In recent weeks, there have been a number of comments—mostly from new commenters—along the lines of “Why is this post on a feminist blog?”

We just celebrated our second anniversary last month, and our readership has grown—probably more than the founding mothers of this blog ever anticipated. So this seems like as good a time as any to reiterate what Harpyness is all about. To wit:

We write about our lives as women. The title and tagline of the blog—it’s right at the top! Read for yourself!—is The Pursuit of Harpyness: as narrated by five of the most charming and vicious women on the internet (actually, there are eight of us now, but we’ve been lazy about changing the tagline). We write about our lives, our own personal pursuit of harpyness and happiness, and the experiences we have on that journey.

Are we a feminist blog? Well, being feminists, a lot of what we write is about feminism, feminist activism, and feminist response to our (patriarchial) culture. But we also write about our jobs, politics, books, families, food, sex, travel, relationships, and other things that interest us and make us laugh or cry or rage or swoon with delight. Yes, those posts are still usually informed by feminism, but there is no one right way, or one feminist way, for women to write about their experiences. Feminism, after all, is not monolithic, nor is it the only prism through which we view our lives.

Therefore, comments like “I can’t believe this post/these comments are on a feminist blog!” or the recent, passive-aggressive “This is a feminist blog, right?” are beside the point. If you disagree with a post, by all means, say so—no one here is afraid of thoughtful or respectful dissent. But if your problem is that you find the post or the comments insufficiently focused on feminist ideology or not in keeping with your version of feminism, you have options: you can find what you’re looking for elsewhere, or you can just stick around—another post that’s more to your liking will probably show up in short order (if it doesn’t, see the first option). In the meantime, we welcome everyone to read and participate.

10 Responses to “What We’re About”

I’ve been wondering what’s been up with those “this IS a feminist blog, right?” comments. The blog is how it is. It is written from a feminist slant, and is about the lives of contributors and commentors. Together it forms a community.

Is there some sort of feminist blog police out there watching to see if Harpyness meets the guidelines? And what if it occasionally doesn’t? OH NOES!

I might put it a little more gently, i.e., that feminism isn’t any one set of beliefs or principles, but only one principle: that women are people, as the old saying goes. It encompasses a wide range of backgrounds, desires, aims, and beliefs. But what all feminists have in common is respect for the female experience. That’s why you can tell that when right-wingers claim to be feminists, they’re lying. They don’t respect any woman, not even themselves.

The thread about STFU, Parents was a little harsh in parts. But I’m not sure that those parts were attacking parenting as a choice per se so much as complaining about tmi syndrome, which is hardly confined to parents. The P has convinced us that our choices are wrong, no matter what they are. When we reject that belief, no matter who expresses it, we will have won a great victory.

Feminism encompasses a lot of territory — to say it has to be confined to a narrow focus is to miss the point. I’m glad to see women writing about their lives, and being as honest and forthright as possible about the trials and tribulations of living as feminists in a patriarchal society. Sometimes there is too much of this “is this feminism?” going on, and rather than looking at the practical side of things, its all back-and-forth about propriety and politics.

Ugh, like we don’t have enough passive-aggressive silencing tactics in real life that you have to read it in the comments here. The blog is about whatever the author(s) want to write about – and OMG sometimes it won’t be the exact thing you want to read!! That’s when you put on your big person pants and either (a) move on to the next post, or (b) start your own blog.

Though I miss Pilgrim Soul and Sarah-of-a-lessor-god (original harpies now seemingly gone, I always learn from this blog, and am amazed at the depth of coverage. As Rebecca Traister just said on Salon, its probably not that easy to bring

gender criticism out of the pure ether of sociopolitical discourse and attempt to deploy it in the real, messy world of commerce, consumption and popular culture.

Harpies, I love this blog. I read all sorts of feminist blogs, but this is my favorite one, possibly tied with Feministe. There is no question in my mind about whether it is in fact a “feminist blog.” I really appreciate the variety of content.